CNN’s executive vice president Ken Jautz announced today that Wilson Surratt will rejoin the network as executive producer of its upcoming weekday general news program with Erin Burnett. Surratt’s appointment is effective immediately and will be based in New York.

“Wil has spent 17 years in newsrooms, control rooms and in the field and he is one of the most inventive and accomplished producers in the television news business,” said Jautz. “We are delighted that he is returning to the CNN family.”

Since 2009, Surratt has been the executive producer of WPIX’s 10 p.m. newscast in New York. Before that, he worked with Burnett on Street Signs at CNBC, where he also oversaw The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch. From 2002-2006, Surratt worked at CNN as executive producer of American Morning and NewsNight with Aaron Brown.

“Who wouldn’t jump at an opportunity to create a brand new program with an exciting and globally respected journalist like Erin on the world’s greatest news platforms? It’s simply a dream job,” said Surratt.

Said Burnett, “I am thrilled to be reunited with Wil, whose talent and drive are legendary and inspiring. We are ready to create an exciting new program together.”

While at CNN, Surratt was a producer during the Katrina disaster coverage for which the network won a distinguished Peabody Award. CNN and its executive producers also won the DuPont-Columbia award for coverage of the South Asia Tsunami disaster. He also directed American Morning’s coverage of the 2004 presidential election and the network’s coverage of the second Gulf War which included the fall of Baghdad in April, 2003.

He created and served as the executive producer for the Emmy award-winning WB11 Morning News for WPIX in 2000. Before coming to New York, Surratt was in Los Angeles at KTLA-TV, where he worked as a senior producer for several shows, including the KTLA Morning News, News at Ten and the station’s entertainment and variety talk show, The Live Show. He began his television career at WRAL-TV in Raleigh, N.C., where he got started as a production assistant and was promoted to writer and producer.
He founded South of Broad Productions, producing content for cable, broadband and international networks. He sold a broadband webisode entitled Bailout, produced a pilot for MY Entertainment/SPIKE, developed a political strip show for RTTV and served as a news consultant on a book with Kiernan Ventures.

Surratt earned a bachelor’s degree from Duke University where he majored in English and religion and also holds a master’s degree in television from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 1993, Surratt lived in Los Angeles as a fellow at the American Film Institute. He currently lives in the New York City area with his wife Jodi, and their two daughters, Katie and Brooke.

CNN Worldwide, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., a Time Warner Company, is the most trusted source for news and information. Its reach extends to nine cable and satellite television networks; one private place-based network; two radio networks; wireless devices around the world; CNN Digital Network, the No. 1 network of news Web sites in the United States; CNN Newsource, the world’s most extensively-syndicated news service; and strategic international partnerships within both television and the digital media.

soundoff(No Responses)

Post a comment

CNN welcomes a lively and courteous discussion as long as you follow the Rules of Conduct set forth in our Terms of Service. Comments are not pre-screened before they post. You agree that anything you post may be used, along with your name and profile picture, in accordance with our Privacy Policy and the license you have granted pursuant to our Terms of Service.

About this blog

CNN Press Room is the official website for CNN's public relations team. Providing the latest announcements and information about CNN's various networks, programs and platforms, CNN Press Room provides direct access to press releases, fact sheets, video and images, as well as transcripts, anchor and reporter bios, a running stream of the latest tweets from @CNNPR, and a comprehensive list of individual contacts in the CNN PR department.